In his first public comments Wednesday, Rogers Communications Inc.’s new chief executive said he was not satisfied with the company’s latest quarterly results and expects more from it over time.

Guy Laurence, the former Vodafone UK executive who joined the Toronto-based communications and media giant in December, did not comment in detail on Rogers’ fourth-quarter report, saying he is about halfway through conducting a review of operations and setting priorities, which he expects to share publicly this spring.

His remarks came as Rogers reported a 20% drop in profit and a decline in sales relative to the same period last year, which it attributed to lower network revenue and equipment sales from its wireless business.

“While there are areas of strength, overall they’re not satisfactory to me and over time I expect to do better,” Mr. Laurence said of the quarterly results.

He noted that Rogers has “slipped in terms of our growth rate relative to our peers” and said better execution is needed to close that gap.

Top management have bluntly admitted in recent months that customer service is serious issue for the company as it confronts the high cost of handling complaints and trying to woo users back with pricey incentives. It is near the top of the list of priorities for new chief executive Guy Laurence to tackle and industry watchers expect him to devote major resources to fixing it. Continue reading.

Rogers’ shares fell about 5% on the Toronto Stock Exchange as the company’s results raised the question of how it will fuel continued growth in the maturing mobile market.

That is an issue that the entire industry must confront but it is particularly pressing for Canada’s largest cellular provider as Rogers controls a larger share of the smartphone market than BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., leaving an opportunity for its rivals.

Overall revenue at the Toronto-based communications and media company fell 1% to $3.24-billion while sales in its mobile division were down 4% to $1.85-billion in the quarter.

Adjusted net income fell 20% to $357-million as did adjusted diluted earnings per share, which came in at $0.69, down from $0.86 in the same period last year and missing Bay Street’s projections for $0.74 per share.

Rogers added fewer postpaid wireless customers in the period than a Bloomberg survey of eight analysts predicted with 34,000 new subscribers versus an estimate of 47,000.

It ended the quarter with 9.503 million total wireless subscribers – 8.074 million postpaid and 1.429 million prepaid – up only slightly from 9.498 million at the end of the third quarter.

The company saw some improvement in customer turnover as it reduced its rate of postpaid churn to 1.34%, down from 1.40% at the same time last year.

On the cable side, Rogers lost 28,000 television customers in the quarter, which was better than expected, but the addition of just 13,000 Internet subscribers fell short of analyst expectations.

Customer service has been pegged as a crucial issue for the company’s new CEO to address and Mr. Laurence has experience tackling customer issues at his former post with Vodafone.

“We have opportunities to put the customers’ needs more front and centre in everything we do to deliver a better, more consistent experience,” he said Wednesday.

“I think we can strengthen our value proposition and differentiation and we have the opportunity to better align and focus our investment in key areas to help re-accelerate our growth.”

Rogers’ Chief Financial Officer Anthony Staffieri told analysts on the conference call the pressure on wireless revenue was due in part to the need to meet competitors’ offers with lower prices of its own.

He said a 2% decline in wireless network revenue related to “pricing changes associated with the introduction and evolution of our new simplified wireless plans and as well reflects the lower-price, higher-value roaming packages we put in place earlier in 2013.”

Mr. Staffieri added that Rogers’ cable, media and enterprise services divisions all reported revenue growth in the quarter and said cost containment allowed the company to post continued margin growth and meet its financial guidance targets for 2013.

Rogers announced a 5% increase in its annual dividend Wednesday – increasing the payout to $1.83 per share, up from $1.74 per share – and also announced the renewal of a share buyback program with plans to repurchase up to $500-million worth of its stock over the next year.

Analysts had been expecting a larger increase in the dividend and highlighted weaker than expected guidance for the 2014 fiscal year.

“While BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. appear to be trading at a discernible premium to Rogers, these results, 2014 guidance and the disappointing dividend per share hike clearly suggest that Rogers should trade at a discount,” Dvai Ghose, head of research at Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.

Rogers’ shares were down 5.27% or $2.41 to $43.28 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Wednesday.

BCE reported fourth-quarter results largely in line with expectations last week while Telus will post its report Thursday morning.